


Trapped By Destiny

by CaptainTrips



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Equalist Asami Sato, Equalists (Avatar), F/F, For Want of a Nail, Politics, Red Lotus (Avatar), Terrorism, Unalaq is still evil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28572087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainTrips/pseuds/CaptainTrips
Summary: For the past thirteen years, Avatar Korra has been raised under the tutelage of her uncle, Chieftain Unalaq as heiress to the Water Tribes. But as she sets out for Republic City in her quest to master airbending, enemies emerge from the shadows, secrets are uncovered, and Korra begins to question the destiny that she was given.
Kudos: 8





	Trapped By Destiny

Korra never believed that leaving home would be too much of a hassle, but as she found out, organizing luggage was not her greatest skill. Trips overseas were nothing new to her, of course. It was expected that as the Tribal Princess, she would at least spend some away from Agna Qel'a to visit the Southern Pole during the holy days. However, traveling alone had been another story and as Korra found out, important things tended to misplace themselves when she needed them the most. As she began to look under her mattress, the sound of two pairs of feet began to echo across the icy halls. And just as Korra expected, a flat-faced girl appeared in the doorway with her flat-faced brother by her side.

“Come on Princess, the sun’s almost set and I’m going to need your room to myself.”

Korra rolled her eyes, annoying her had been Eska’s favorite pastime next to sulking with her brother and acts of vandalism. And besides, Korra would be deep in the ground before she'd let Eska go anywhere close to her room, especially after what happened last time.

“Well you can tell the boat to wait a few minutes, I have to find something important.”

A smirk appeared on Eska’s face, “Well, perhaps if you were civilized enough to clean your room once in a while, you wouldn’t have this problem.”

Korra frowned, she’d been living in the North for most of her life but her dear cousin would never let her forget her southern roots, “I’m looking my dad’s necklace, Eska.”

Eska’s grin began to fade as she lowered her head in shame. “Did you look in the place where you last saw it?” asked her brother.

“That’s a great idea Desna, why didn’t I think of that in the first place?”

With an annoyed look, Korra’s other cousin placed his hands on his hips, “I’m serious Korra, you probably left it somewhere outside of your room.”

As much as she hated to admit it, Desna was right. She’d been so caught up in leaving, she hadn’t bothered to think back to when she last took off her necklace. Korra would only take off her necklace when she slept and bathed, so it made sense that she left her necklace somewhere near the bath. As she rushed to her bath in the adjacent room, the sight of a whalebone necklace placed neatly on the ice sink caught her eye. With a sigh of relief, Korra placed the jewelry around her neck and rushed out of her room, sliding her feet across the ice hallways. As she made her way to the palace gates with luggage in hand, a massive beast howled and pounced on the Avatar, licking her hair with a slobbery tongue. With a smile on her face, Korra began to scratch her companion behind the ear, "Come on Naga, I wasn't gone for that long.

Korra then looked around and saw the four people closest to her heart standing by. With an outstretched hand, the tallest of the four helped the Avatar to her feet as she began to recover from Naga's ambush, “Now there’s the Avatar herself. I was almost worried you wouldn’t show up!”

Korra bowed as she gave the Chieftain a crooked smile. “Don’t be silly Uncle, you know I wouldn’t miss this day for the world.”

The Avatar then turned to the Tribe Mother, a weary woman with a pair of round glasses to give her a deep bow, “Goodbye, Aunt Malina.” Unlike her uncle, Korra's aunt had always been a distant figure throughout her childhood, preferring to spend her time behind stacks of paperwork managing finances, rather than reading the heroic sagas of Water Tribe history to her niece. Nonetheless, she was present enough to help Korra whenever she asked and lenient enough to allow her to settle her quarrels with Eska on her own.

Without changing a look on her flat face, Tribe Mother Malina gave her a slight nod, “Goodbye Korra,”

Korra then looked towards Eska and Desa, and the two bowed in return.

“Be safe Korra,” intoned Densa.

“We’re going to miss you, moron,” said Eska.

Korra spread her arms and wrapped the twins in a wide hug, “Oh come on guys, don’t get soft on me now! I promise that I'll be back in no time!”

Eska's body began to twist as she tried to free herself from her cousin's strong grip, “Korra, I swear to Tui and La, I'll kill you the second you return to Agna Qel'a.” 

Laughter burst from Korra's lips and she began to hug her favorite cousins even tighter, "Well you can try, that's for sure."

Meanwhile, Desna appeared to be unsure of what to think and gave Korra a pat on the head, an odd sign of affection more suited to Naga than the Avatar. Desna may have never been as sociable as his sister, but Korra still appreciated the fact that he never got himself caught up in Eska's schemes against her.

As the Avatar embraced the two, the blaring sound of a foghorn suddenly cut through the air and shook the ground beneath their feet. Looking to the harbor, Korra could see the pale outline of the royal ship waiting on the distant pier. Korra then turned to Unalaq, as he gave his guards the signal to open the palace gates, “Come with me Korra, I’ll take you to the ship.”

As the Chieftain, the Princess, and the Polar Bear Dog walked through the streets, the people of Agna Qel'a began to wave their goodbyes to Korra. It was times like this when Korra was happy to be the Princess of the Water Tribes, rather than the Earth Kingdom, where they worshipped the ground on which the royals walked upon. In the Northern Pole, there were no crowds kneeling at her presence or parades in her name, just a few passerbys bowing in respect here and there. Korra then wondered if she would be treated the same in Republic City, dreading the thought of being swarmed by hordes of reporters, desperate to hear from the Princess and Avatar herself.

“Uncle, have I been to Republic City before?”

Her uncle squinted his eyes, searching his memory “I believe that when you were very young, we visited Republic City to celebrate Tarrlok’s appointment to the United Council. Although, Tarrlok often visits us nowadays instead of the other way around.”

Korra remembered little of the celebration other than feeling hot in her fur dress and how Eska tried to annoy her during a rather loud speech. Korra would later learn that the man giving that speech was a proud, talkative man who boasted to everyone he met of his feats during the Southern Rebellion. “And uh- Councilman Tarrlok, what do you think of him, Uncle?”

Unalaq shrugged his shoulders “What can I say? He’s a politician, I doubt that he even cares about anything other than his own approval ratings.” Unalaq paused for a brief moment “But he’s very loyal, I wouldn’t have supported his appointment to the Council if that weren’t the case. And I do suppose that he’s a decent waterbender as well, after all he-”

“Fought off an entire horde of barbarians and saved your life?” Korra looked to her uncle and saw him raise an eyebrow, “Come on, it’s not like he doesn’t remind us every time he comes here.”

A soft chuckle escaped Chief Unalaq’s lips, “Well, it’s too bad that there aren’t any barbarians in Republic City for Tarrlok to fight.”

Korra thought back to Tarrlok’s gala and remembered the man in orange robes who stood by the Councilman’s side during his speech. When Tenzin met her during those rare instances when the two visited the South at the same time, Korra had always been somewhat intimidated by the gruff tattooed man who looked at her with stern eyes. Even though her uncle showed nothing but respect for a fellow scholar of the spirits and Tenzin had been kind enough to allow Naga to accompany her to Air Temple Island, Korra looked forward to her meeting with the airbender with a mix of dread and anticipation.

From the corner of her eye, Korra saw her uncle give her a concerned look with those wise eyes of his, “Is there something wrong Korra? You’ve been awfully quiet as of late.”

Korra gave a shake of her head, “For the longest time, I’ve known almost everything about water, earth, and fire, but I still don’t know the first thing about airbending. For all I know, I could be stuck on Air Temple Island for over a year.”

In response, her uncle raised his eyebrows in a pretend look of surprise, "My own niece doubting her own abilities? That isn't the Korra that I know." Then, with a gentle hand on Korra's shoulder, Unalaq began to comfort her, "But in all honesty, you still need to remember that the past Avatars have given you over ten thousand years of knowledge and even I don't know what limits your power has. After all, you had already reached her age when you defeated the Everstorm and restored balance to the Southern Pole.”

With a wave of his hand, Unalaq gestured to the grand statue of a young woman towering over the harbor. With a solemn look on his face, the Chieftain then knelt onto the ground and began to pray beneath Princess Yue’s flowing locks and sad smile. As the Avatar joined her Uncle in prayer, dockworkers and gondoliers around the pier began to follow suit, falling to their knees beneath the gaze of the Moon Spirit. Even Naga herself had bowed her head as they stood in front of Yue's icy statue, perhaps praying that there would be plenty of fish for her waiting in Republic City.

“You really think Princess Yue is going to help me learn airbending?”

A smile began to appear on Unalaq’s face as he lowered his royal cloak, “I doubt your Aunt Yue knew much about airbending. But much like you, it was her birthright was to lead her people, yet she sacrificed that to bring spiritual balance to this world.” With one smooth motion, he rose to his feet and placed the sealskin cape around Korra's shoulders, “And it is your destiny to do what she could not, to accomplish both. Remember Korra, your blood is shared with that as the Yue the Moon Spirit, Koriak the Unifier, Manupataq the Vanquisher, and the ancient _Ataneq_ who ruled the entire sea as their own kingdom. And with the spirit of Raava within you, I know that you will master all four elements.”

Following her Uncle, Korra stood up and walked towards the pier, where the Royal Steamship stood amongst the lapping waves. And as the ship’s foghorn began to blare, Korra gave one last bow to the Chieftain, “Thank you Uncle, I’ll be sure to write to you when I get to Republic City.”

With a thin smile on his face, Unalaq adjusted the cloak which he had given his niece, “I trust that you will, Korra. But remember, as both my heir and the Avatar, you must never let anyone turn you away from your own destiny.”

Korra laughed as she followed Naga onto the steamship, “Trust me, I won’t.”

After handing her luggage to a servant, Korra began to walk across the ship’s luxurious interior with hanging glass chandeliers and Water Tribe artifacts decorating the halls. Already, Naga had made herself at home on the steamer, fast asleep on the carpet floor. Usually, it would be her family accompanying Korra on these long trips south, but without anyone by her side as she walked through the winding corridors, it felt almost strange being alone. As Korra headed towards the stairs and climbed onto the deck, she looked to the pier and gave one last look at her people.

“Goodbye, Avatar!”

“Good luck, Princess Korra!”

“Safe travels!”

With a wide grin on her face, Korra then turned towards the sunset and looked towards the future.


End file.
